FBN Changes

According to a tipster starting Monday FBN will begin airing cut-ins called the ”Fox Business Brief” at the top and bottom of the hour during market hour. Not exactly sure why FBN needs to be doing business headlines at the top and bottom of the hour, but okay…

Free for All: 04/19/10-05/07/10

Behave yourselves. Because I won’t be…

Blogus Interruptus…

SFO – HNL – GUM – MNL – ROR…

It’s been a few days short of a year since I visited Palau and lost my snorkel under the raging currents of Blue Corner. Then I found it off shore of Maui but had it confiscated by US Customs. Then I went back to Hawaii to have it repatriated to me months later only to find out when I got there that it had disappeared. Then it turned up in New York City where I pried it away from Mediaite’s clutches only to have the airline lose it on the way home. Then I found out it was back in Hawaii and retrieved it only to see it get destroyed in the pounding North Shore surf on Oahu. Then I was haunted by the ghost of the departed and I went to Cabo San Lucas to lay the remains to rest (and work in a gratuitous Kolchak reference that probably went over most of your heads. Not J$ though). All caught up? Good.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 04/18/10

What’s Hot:

American Morning changes? – FTVLive kicked of the week writing that CNN was mulling changes to American Morning that could include removing one or both of the show’s hosts.

CNN’s Upfront presentation – CNN held its annual upfront this week and it got a lot of press and caught some pretty strong blow-back from both MSNBC and FNC…

Sean Hannity – Hannity was hot this week. Hot – as in radioactive; all because of Hannity doing his show from a Tea Party event in Cincinnati. An event which tickets were sold and the proceeds going to the local Tea Party. The highest levels of FNC were not pleased with this development and word circulated that they weren’t made aware of this before hand. As a result Hannity was ordered home and the remote broadcast was canceled.

Keith Olbermann embraces Twitter – Olbermann started tweeting this week and in a prolific and confrontational way. The manner and zeal in which Olbermann deals with trolls and detractors is interesting. It’s interesting not because of the way he does it but because it echoes an infamous incident someone else from MSNBC had a few months ago. And I have to wonder if David Shuster is looking at Olbermann’s tweets and thinking to himself if they’re going to allow that then why did he get his twitter privileges revoked…

No I won’t, yes I will – Still haven’t read anyone try to find out why Cathy Areu first stated on MSNBC she wasn’t going to be on The Factor, only to wind up on The Factor later that night…

What’s Not:

CNN’s Twitter “dominance” – As part of its upfront presentation, CNN noted how “dominant” it was on Twitter compared to MSNBC and CNN FNC. I think this is a vastly overrated talking point…

Bloomberg to air FIA GT1 World Championship racing – What does this have to do with business news exactly?

Rick Sanchez – Sanchez allegedly joked about volcanoes and cold climates. I say allegedly because it didn’t sound like a joke. And jokes are supposed to be funny. This one wasn’t.

MSNBC continues to “de-news” 4pm 3pm – First Ed Schultz, now Donny Deutsch next week?

Bloomberg Sunday programming changes…

Bloomberg TV announced some changes for tonight’s programming…

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION TO PRESENT LIVE ONE-HOUR SPECIAL ON GOLDMAN SACHS

Tonight, Sunday April 18th at 6 PM /ET, Bloomberg Television will present a live one-hour special, “The Case Against Goldman Sachs—What’s Next?,” discussing the latest on Goldman Sachs, the SEC and what the future holds for Wall Street.

Bloomberg Television anchor Betty Liu, along with Chief Washington Correspondent Peter Cook, will provide analysis and insight before the start of the U.S. trading day tomorrow, as well as interview experts on the story including:
• William D. Cohan, former investment banker and author of “House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street”
• Louise Story, finance and Wall Street reporter for the New York Times
• Tim Metz, crisis management expert and co-founder of communications firm Hullin Metz & Co. LLC (HMC)
• Charles Clark, Partner at Kirkland & Ellis and former SEC enforcement attorney
• Greg Zuckerman, Wall Street Journal reporter and author of the book, “The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-scenes story of how John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History”

“The Case Against Goldman Sachs—What’s Next?” will air live at 6 PM and repeat at 9 PM / ET.

Additionally, Bloomberg Television will present a special Charlie Rose show on Goldman at 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm ET featuring a roundtable discussion with Gretchen Morgenson & Larry Ingrassia of the New York Times, John Coffee of Columbia Law School and Roben Farzad of Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Changes at CNBC?

Page Six writes about rumored changes to CNBC daytime…

Change is afoot at CNBC. We hear the cable network is cutting its two-hour “Power Lunch” show in half and will devote the leftover hour to a new show, “Strategy Session,” hosted by David Faber, and an expanded version of “Fast Money Halftime Report,” from 15 minutes to 30. We also hear CNBC approached “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer about helming a second program but “he doesn’t want to work with [VP of Strategic Programming and Development] Susan Krakower,” a source tells us. We hear that Krakower, whose blow-up with former “Fast Money” host Dylan Ratigan prompted him to leave the show, isn’t confident her contract will be renewed. A CNBC rep says, “The story is 40 percent accurate. But here’s a fact: Jim and Susan are critically important contributors to CNBC’s success and will be for years to come.”

In your face!

NewsBusters’ Tim Graham probably could barely restrain his glee as he wrote about Cathy Areu’s appearance on The O’Reilly Factor last night, something that wasn’t going to happen…according to MSNBC.

MSNBC’s Peter Alexander claimed this afternoon that magazine publisher Cathy Areu declined an interview with Bill O’Reilly: “Areu said thanks but no thanks to Fox. Saying she wanted to appear right here on MSNBC. We don’t blame her.”

But there she was, in the first interview segment on Friday night’s Factor: Cathy Areu, responding to O’Reilly’s questions on her claim on the Headline News show Showbiz Tonight that Palin was “Larry the Cable Guy minus the class and intelligence.” O’Reilly pressed her to explain herself:

Graham’s likely schadenfreude aside, there’s a process story here for someone to dig up. As Graham notes at the end…

How did MSNBC end up so wrong in claiming she’d turned Fox down? Why would Areu pull a fast one on MSNBC and then shuttle right over to Fox? Whatever the reason, MSNBC has some Friday-night egg on their faces.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists on Sunday night…

Kelly O’Donnell answers critics…

Politico’s Patrick Gavin talks to NBC’s Norah Kelly O’Donnell about some of her Tea Party comments…

“I had not heard about the Drudge posting until your note,” O’Donnell told POLITICO. “I received no negative email. Context is critical. Among the first things you hear from attendees at a Tea Party event is frustration about being portrayed as racist because of some ugly signs and poor behavior. With no prompting from me, many expressed that concern. There were even signs using the word “racist” to deny that claim. That was the atmosphere just as new polling shows most Tea Partiers are white.

“Darryl Postell, a retired Air Force veteran, could not have been nicer and was more than willing to talk about how he is often one of few African Americans at these rallies. He told me off camera he has been interviewed before and had often been approached by strangers asking why he was there. In the clip, Darryl was able to make his own point that the Tea Party represents him.

Correction: This entry incorrectly wrote that the interview was with Norah O’Donnell when it was actually with Kelly O’Donnell. ICN regrets this stupid error…

Ali Velshi Profile…

The New York Times’ Elizabeth A. Harris profiles CNN’s Ali Velshi…

IT’S been an eventful two years on Wall Street. Perhaps you’d heard? And as CNN’s chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi has been busy.

Now that the economy has stopped hyperventilating, Mr. Velshi has taken on another assignment: He’s the anchor of a news show that runs every weekday as part of “CNN Newsroom.” That comes on top of being the co-anchor of a weekend show called “Your Money.”

But the new gig is in Atlanta, so he’s selling his apartment in New York.

“I bought it the first day I saw it and have loved it ever since,” Mr. Velshi said of his one-bedroom on the Upper West Side. “But I’m a financial journalist. I can’t just hang on to a place for the sake of it — there’s money in it.”

MSNBC Revamps TV Website…

I don’t know when it happened but MSNBC has revamped its TV website page. The old dedicated show sections are gone, though there are links at the bottom to the shows’ pages and the site tells you what’s on MSNBC at the time you surf there. The MSNBC video page is now tied directly into the MSNBC TV website. There’s also new section for Twitter and the tweets of MSNBC talent. There’s a new program schedule section. There’s a bio section but every link I clicked on returned me to the main MSNBC TV page which indicates this revamp may not be completely ready for use yet.

Hannity’s Doghouse…

Debbie Schlussel blogs about Hannity still being in hot water for the Cincinnati Tea Party fiasco…(via J$)

And here’s the scoop on what happened:

You have to read between the lines on the LA Times Hannity story and know the background. The order to cancel Hannity’s Tea Party broadcast came from FOX News Chairman Roger Ailes, not Senior Vice President Bill Shine–a shameless Hannity toady. Shine, who is quoted in the article, is one of Hannity’s best friends. They often drive into work together from their Long Island homes. Both are big Howard Stern fans and listened to his terrestrial radio show religiously. Shine produced Hannity’s show and Hannity forced out FOX News’ previous Senior VP of News, Kevin, so that Hannity’s guy, Shine, could get the job. Shine knew all along that Hannity was hosting his FOX News show from the Tea Party event. They don’t set up the satellite trucks and feeds at the last minute. It’s all set up well in advance. And Hannity promoted it–and the ticket sales–repeatedly on his radio show, to which Shine listens, and on his website.

Ah, earth humor…AR! AR! AR! AR!

Yesterday, I noted, with some dismay, Rick Sanchez’s volcano moment. Today Sanchez tweets it was all a joke and we’re dummies for thinking otherwise…

yeah, it’s friday reading up on coulter interview ink and dummies who took my joke w chad about vocano literally. duhh!

Maybe he was joking. Maybe he wasn’t. Either way it wasn’t funny…

Branding Run Amok: Example 1,004

It looks like Bloomberg TV won the rights to broadcast FIA GT1 racing series.

In a ground-breaking broadcast deal, the FIA GT1 World Championship will be screened on Bloomberg Television for the next two years.

The agreement means that FIA GT1 races will be broadcast live or delayed in a number of territories as well as the screening of a one-hour highlights package of the whole weekend worldwide.

Bloomberg Television, which has a global footprint of over 245 million households, will have a news crew on site at FIA GT1 World Championship race weekends producing extensive race coverage, feature material and interviews from each round of the championship.

In announcing the agreement, Stephane Ratel, the promoter of the series, said: “Bloomberg Television is a fantastic broadcast affiliate for the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Oh, really? I know Bloomberg can be a bit eccentric at times with its programming, particularly at night, but what does car racing have to do with business news? At least it’s on weekends and not during key weekday business hours as is the case with Imus on FBN, so Bloomberg isn’t ceeding much business programming time (note that Bloomberg Asia Pacific is apparently exempt from this deal). But still this seems to me like a bald faced ploy for ratings at the expense of branding…

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,053

First Gasparino drops an S-bomb, and now someone’s not making very nice with Jim Cramer. Goldman Sachs gets sued for fraud and all hell breaks loose on Business News TV…

Donny Deutsch to anchor MSNBC at 3pm next week…

Deutsch will take a look at “America the Angry” all next week it was announced this afternoon on MSNBC. What about news?

Nicole Petallides Profile…

News on Women’s Alice Krause profiles FBN’s Nicole Petallides…(via J$)

What skills do you use most often in your job?

Geeez huge question, what don’t I use?

For content I scour all the morning newspapers such at the Wall Street Journal, business and news Web sites and all day I’m on Reuters and the Bloomberg terminal where I can get in-depth content for our viewers. I talk with analysts, CEOs, traders buying and selling huge blocks of stock all while trying to bring fresh news with some key perspective why we should care.

I write and research all my content for air. But I am the only person here at the NYSE for FOX Business so my job also entails turning on all my gear, camera, batteries, lighting, my graphics and I even gear up the floor guests. I book the traders to appear on camera and of course, yes, I do touch up my own hair and makeup too. It’s all good, keeps it real and I love the job in its entirety. I don’t do it all alone; the tech folks and the top notch production team on the other end at FOX uptown are the other half of this key equation and implement all that I start from down here.

And last but not least: on-air delivery, presentation, timing and appearance on TV — that’s a big focus too of course. I try to nail all that down every time as well. Television is a visual, live experience so it better be interesting and look crisp so we can keep our viewers and get new viewers each day too!

Cheap Shot? Or Not?

The Business Insider’s Gillian Reagan gets all excited about FBN talking Tila Tequilla as the Goldman Sachs news broke. I didn’t see this as I found out about Goldman by channel hopping to CNBC after the story broke but I have watched FBN cover this story quite a lot today. Though I did miss this Hazard of Live TV entrant…

When the huge Goldman Sachs story broke this morning, Fox Business Network was airing an interview with reality star Tila Tequila on how she turned her fame into a business.

Here’s the embarrassing interview, which they left on screen for quite some time while every other network was covering the Goldman news.

A few of our sources told us they stayed on the interview for awhile before Charlie Gasparino swooped in for commentary.

And just who might those “sources” be…hmmmmmm?

Press Releases: 04/16/10

CNBC (1)

A CNBC original, ONE NATION, OVERWEIGHT will premiere on Tuesday, May 18th at 10PM and 1AM ET

The documentary will repeat on the following dates:

Friday, 5/21 at 10PM ET
Saturday, 5/22 at 7PM ET
Sunday, 5/23 at 10PM ET

It is a fight without end, a battle often to the death, and one we are apparently losing. It is the American struggle with obesity, one that costs the nation $147 billion, and an untold number of lives, every year.

Free for All: 04/16/10

What’s on your mind?

Breitbart vs. Brewer? Not really…

Andrew Breitbart ripped Contessa Brewer last night at a tea party event. I saw the headline and thought, “What? When did Breitbart and Brewer mix it up before?” Then I saw the video. I’m a little disappointed in Breitbart. He should very well know that Brewer had no control over that photo’s editing and I would hazard a guess probably never knew of the original version until after it aired. If Breitbart wants to criticize MSNBC for airing a photo out of context, fine. I think the criticism is valid. But put the blame where it belongs with the production staff. Don’t take the cheap shot easy to digest and explain route and try to pass this off as the machinations of a straight news anchor. This isn’t talking head primetime where the rules are different…

Another “What’s wrong with CNN” piece…

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman tosses in his two cents…

“We will never abandon our core faith in having nonpartisan reporting,” Klein, officially the president of CNN U.S., said. That’s a good thing — CNN should never lose these ideals.

At the same time, is Klein insisting that CNN answers to a higher ethical power? If so, I’m not buying it. There is a way to present the news in a non-partisan, yet engaging and compelling way. CNN’s biggest problem is that it is often perceived as being a dull network — and that should change.

Call me overly cynical, but I can’t help but wonder whether Klein has actually given up on catching up to the Fox News Channel, which has held a sizable lead for years. You’d almost think Klein believes that any attempt at giving CNN an injection of pizzazz would compromise its integrity. (Both Fox News and MarketWatch are part of News Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!nws/quotes/nls/nws (NWS 18.30, -0.05, -0.27%) )

I wish Klein could find a way to make CNN more interesting and lively — no, make that more enjoyable — to watch.

I really wanted to defend/explain/give the benefit of the doubt for this but I just can’t…

NewsBusters’ Matthew Balan ridicules Rick Sanchez for some volcano observations. When I read Balan’s summary, I thought well this doesn’t seem like the crime Balan makes it out to be…maybe Sanchez was just playing a contrarian role and trying to be whimsical and it got all goofed up?

But then I read the transcript following Balan’s summary which actually makes for a more damning case than Balan’s summary does…

SANCHEZ: I was just asking Chad, how can you get a volcano in Iceland? [Myers laughs]. Isn’t it too- when you think of a volcano, you think of Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland.

MYERS: Right.

SANCHEZ: You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there. But no! There it is.

MYERS: Look at that.

SANCHEZ: What is this? Explain-

FNC cancels Hannity Tea Party Special…

The LA Times’ Matea Gold writes about FNC cancelling Hannity’s Tea Party Tax special.

But senior Fox News executives said they were not aware Hannity was being billed as the centerpiece of the event or that Tea Party organizers were charging for admission to Hannity’s show as part of the rally. They first learned of it Thursday morning from John Finley, Hannity’s executive producer, who was in Cincinnati to produce Hannity’s show.

Furious, top officials recalled Hannity back to New York to do his show in his regular studio. The network plans to do an extensive post-mortem about the incident with Finley and Hannity’s staff.

“Fox News never agreed to allow the Cincinnati Tea Party organizers to use Sean Hannity’s television program to profit from broadcasting his show from the event,” said Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming. “When senior executives in New York were made aware of this, we changed our plans for tonight’s show.”

Mountain, meet mole hill…

Got this “big” email last night…

Erick Erickson’s on FOX News, right now. I thought he was working for CNN, as a contributor?

I wasn’t going to do anything about it at the time but since this week is going woefully slow for a news cycle I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel here for stuff that I think is worth noting. Anyways, there’s nothing to this story. Some CNN contributors are allowed to show up elsewhere from time to time. Not all contributors are created equal though. There are contributors that can pop up elsewhere occasionally and then there are the lock them up exclusively in chains variety like Karl Rove, and, years earlier, ABC’s Richard Clarke, both of whom only got free for book tours and never appeared on other networks for other reasons.

Jay Barbree blows a fuse…

Today on MSNBC, normally affable Jay Barbree got his dander up on the air in very un-Barbree like fashion. NewsBusters’ Geoffrey Dickens has the transcript…

WITT: Okay so this is really, there’s a dividing line here between these very few elite men.

BARBREE: It sure is. Well I’ll tell you it’s really not. You have, you have Buzz Aldrin, who is – has his oldest son Andrew Aldrin is a, is the chief planner of the Launch Alliance Group, the Delta 4 rocket and the Atlas 5 rocket and they are the people who are trying to get the job of hauling the Orion spacecraft into space and they’re going to downsize it so they can put them on these rockets. So what – they’re trying to do that. Neil Armstrong and all the rest of the guys, they see what’s happening here. We do not have a conceivable…I can’t get the word out. They do not have continuation of the space program.

WITT: Okay.

BARBREE: But I’m a little disturbed right now, Alex. I just found out some very disturbing news. The President came down here in his campaign and told these 15,000 workers here at the Space Center that if they would vote for him, that he would protect their jobs. 9,000 of them are about to lose their job. He is speaking before 200, extra hundred people here today only. It’s invitation only. He has not invited a single space worker from this space port to attend. It’s only academics and other high officials from outside of the country. Not one of them is invited to hear the President of the United States, on their own space port, speak today. Back to you Alex.

Hannity/FNC wrong?

The Baltimore Sun’s David Zurawik blasts FNC for televising Hannity’s Tea Party Tax event…

Even if you buy the argument promoted by Fox management that Hannity’s show is opinion, not news, and everyone on the planet knows that, it is still wrong to use your broadcast in such an overtly poilitical manner.

Providing a forum for voices of dissent is one thing. Indeed, I have argued it is a good thing, and praised Fox News for doing it when so much of the rest of the media seemed to be on bended knee before Obama in the first few months after his inauguration. The administration seemed to lack any plan to help the millions of Americans who were losing jobs left and right, and it seemed as if the most the press could do was celebrate Obama with a cult of personality chorus of hosannas. Fox was one of the few media outlets delivering on its watchdog responsibilities.

But for Fox News to let Hannity take his show on the road and use it as a political tool to help mount dissent and fan the flames of protest is another thing altogether. The ratings might be nice, but Hannity and Fox News are playing a dangerous political game by putting the program in league with such Tea Party roadshows, and for once, I agree that they deserve all the criticism they are getting from the left.

Press Releases: 04/15/10

MSNBC (1)

MSNBC PRESENTS “DEBATING THE BLACK AGENDA,” A PANEL DISCUSSION ON BLACK LEADERSHIP IN AMERICA, SUNDAY, APRIL 18TH, NOON-2PM ET

MSNBC ANCHORS TAMRON HALL AND ED SCHULTZ HOST

(New York)—April 15, 2010—On Saturday, April 17th, MSNBC will carry portions of the National Action Network’s panel discussion titled “Measuring the Movement: Black Leadership’s 12-Month Action Plan.” The panel will feature prominent Black leaders from across the US who will pledge to further critical issues impacting Black Americans over a 12-month period. The discussion, led by Rev. Al Sharpton, the National Urban League’s Marc Morial, BET personality Jeff Johnson, NAACP President Ben Jealous and radio host Tom Joyner, among others, is scheduled to air from 11am-1pm ET.

On Sunday, April 18th, MSNBC will present a live panel discussion on the topics from the convention from noon-2pm ET. MSNBC anchors Tamron Hall and Ed Schultz will host the forum, diving in-depth into topics from politics, business, civil rights, education, and more as they pertain to Black Americans. MSNBC will ask the tough questions: What is the Black Agenda, and do we need one? Do President Obama and other Black officials owe the Black community anything? What can the Black community do to help itself? How does the Black agenda help to further the overall American agenda?

Free for All: 04/15/10

What’s on your mind?

Conflict of Interest?

Media Matters (yeah, yeah…) notes that FNC will be televising a Hannity taping at a Cincinnati Tea Party Event, an event that people have to pay to get in to, with the proceeds going to the Cincinnati Tea Party.

If you want to attend an April 15 taping of the Fox News program Hannity, you’ll have to pay the Cincinnati Tea Party $5 to $100.

Going beyond just promoting the Tea Party movement, Fox News is apparently allowing host Sean Hannity to tape his Thursday show at the Cincinnati Tea Party’s (CTP) 2010 Tax Day Tea Party, which requires paid tickets. The event, held at the University of Cincinnati, will feature a “Taping of Sean Hannity’s Fox News Show,” a “Hannity Book Signing,” and speeches from local Ohio figures. According to a CTP promotional flier, “All proceeds benefit the Cincinnati Tea Party.”